Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan and the party leadership at various levels came under a scathing attack at the party State secretariat held to take a preliminary stock of the Left front’s massive drubbing in the just-concluded elections. 

In an exercise begun with a view to identify the organisational lapses and functional missteps made by the party and the front which resulted in the adverse outcome, the State secretariat members resolved to meet again on May 12, which will be followed by a meeting of the State committee on May 13 and 14 to get to the root of the causes that led to the debacle.  

CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby said the party would analyse the defeat threadbare in order to make necessary corrections. Party forums at various levels will listen to their immediate lower units, down to the branch, the grassroots rung of the CPI(M), as part of an intense and self-critical process of examination.  

Organisational changes

While frustrated party workers and sympathisers demanded immediate organisational changes on social media and through posters, any change would be undertaken only at the end of this self-examination, a senior leader said. 

Some leaders The Hindu spoke with were excited about the unrestrained, honest opinions raised at the meeting. But at the district-level, many leaders refused to be as optimistic, pointing to committees being populated with careerists and toadies. “At least some of those who are trying to solve the problem are blind to their own participation in it,” quipped a senior leader.  

While there was no discussion on who would be the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, some said Polit Bureau member and caretaker Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would take on that role.  

Constituents of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) who gathered in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday also resolved to conduct a micro-level assessment to identify the factors that led to the front’s poor performance in the elections. 

Constituent parties

LDF convener T.P. Ramakrishnan said all units of the LDF constituent parties would conduct a detailed analysis of the setback before June 15. After obtaining the assessments of the constituent parties, the LDF will hold a meeting by the end of June to gauge public opinion in the State and take the necessary decisions accordingly. 

The LDF would listen not only to the reactions of political party workers but also to people from different walks of life, including those outside the LDF fold, as people are important, he said. For the time being, the LDF does not hold the view that there was a minority consolidation against the LDF in the elections along with anti-incumbency, he said. 

On the face of it, the alliance failed to gauge the sentiments at the grassroots, leader of an LDF constituent said. To a question on the Opposition leader, he said none other than Mr. Vijayan fit the bill under the prevailing political situation and considering the puny strength of the alliance in the Assembly.  “Moreover, there’s a three-member BJP bloc, too,” he added.